Let’s talk about pork and the cruel way it gets to our plates

Pigs, alleged by Floridians for Humane Farms to be pregnant, stand in gestation crates this undated file photo supplied by the organization. Florida outlawed the process.

Lisa Simpson, arguably television’s foremost vegetarian, once tried to explain to her father that bacon, ham, pork chops all come from the same animal. “Oh right, Lisa, a wonderful, magical animal,” Homer retorts.

The Health Blog has been on vacation for a few days, but it returns with food for thought. It might be time for us pork lovers to stop turning a blind eye on how these animals are being treated, especially here in America.

It’s beyond cruel and unusual.

New Jersey Gov. Rick Christie recently came under fire for vetoing a bill that would ban the egregious practice of housing pregnant sows in crates so tight they can’t turn around. The bill had the support of New Jersey lawmakers and voters.

But Christie is running for president and needs to win the GOP primary in Iowa – a big hog producing state with 20 million pigs.

Christie – 1, Pigs – 0.

The extreme confinement of the pigs in the gestation crates, according to the Humane Society, literally make the pigs go insane.

And it’s not like we are doing this to a creature without intelligence. This isn’t a goldfish. The hog is one of the more intelligent creatures known to man and can learn tasks like a dog. In Mark Essig’s excellent new book, “Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig,” he said the pig is so smart, it can probably learn to drive a simple car.

Essig notes Upton Sinclair‘s Jungle exposed the early 20th Century meat packing conditions that led to the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

But today the cruelty is remarkable where hogs are concerned. Pigs are force-fed antibiotics and hormones in “hog confinement buildings” that spew nasty pollution. One plant in North Carolina killed more than 8 million pigs annually.

The absence of updated government oversight “destroyed small farms, fouled land and water and threatened public health.”

Now this isn’t easy, changing our behavior when we walk into a barbecue joint or a Cuban restaurant specializing in pork lechon.

So what can we pork lovers do except give up the meat?

This reporter’s own Lisa Simpson, the lone vegetarian in the household, had some easy advice: eat free range, eat less meat.

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